Designated Heroes (epilogue)
by Nyoom-Stories
Summary: [takes place immediately after Designated Heroes] After his friends have left them, Sonic has a talk with Eggman about friendship that Sonic himself isn't ready to have.


Sonic sighed deeply, already bored out of his mind as his head slumped against the side of the bamboo cage. The blue aura around it was slightly hurting his eyes, but he tried to ignore it.

Among other things.

"Didn't see _that_ coming, did you, hedgehog?" Eggman asked from the other side of the cage, an amused smirk on his face.

Sonic gave a roll of his eyes. "Whatever, Egghead. Just shoot me with your lasers and get it over with."

" _Please,_ " Eggman scoffed, turning his gaze away, "this Eggman don't play that game. I'll burn you to a crisp during an actually _fair_ fight." He crossed his arms. "It'll be just like you, spiny and annoying, but fried."

He waited for a snarky response, but received none. Looking back at Sonic, the hedgehog was staring mindlessly out of the cage, his eyes dull.

For a split second, Eggman wondered if Sonic had been serious.

"Hey, if I'm going through the effort to make a comeback, the least you could do is pay attention!"

Sonic gave no strong reaction, his eyelids drooping down slightly. Eggman, having enough of that, reached over and grabbed Sonic's ear, giving it a light tug.

Sonic was on alert again, jolting up and placing a hand over the ear that Eggman had pulled, glaring at him. "The heck was that for?!"

"If I wanted to be ignored, I could just go home to Orbot and Cubot." Eggman glanced around at the cage. "I'm assuming your fox friend's machine will wear off once the wearer of the helmet gets far enough away or takes it off, so we could be in here for a while if neither happens anytime soon."

"And how do you know that?" Sonic asked accusatively. "Sticks took off your helmet and my cage was still surrounded until they put it on Knuckles and made him say something stupid. I mean, how did _this cage_ even get locked in the first place? _Knuckles_ was even still wearing the helmet!"

"Well, you see, the machine runs on PL, also known as Plot Logic, causing it to perform exactly how the–" Eggman's voice trailed off as he noticed Sonic giving him a weird look. "…Never mind."

Sonic, officially done with the conversation, began staring back at the ground, almost sulking.

Eggman shrugged. "Don't tell me that you're honestly surprised about what happened."

Sonic's ears perked, but drooped back down as he jerked his head back at Eggman. "And what if I am?" he asked, voice low.

Eggman stiffened, having not expected that reaction. Sonic let out a breath, hating that he was getting so worked up. "You wouldn't get it. You don't know how it feels to have friends who don't appreciate you."

" _Ha!_ Welcome to my _entire_ life, rodent," Eggman said, though admitting to himself that he shouldn't have said that out loud. It was just a laughable concept that Sonic would assume such things about him.

Sonic raised a brow. "You had friends?"

"Yes, yes, very funny." Eggman waved a hand dismissively. "My point _being_ that you're not the only one who's ever felt like that. And, if you ever tell anyone that I said that, I'll blast you with lasers for real, got it?"

Sonic internally questioned who he would care enough to tell anyway, but still nodded his head. "And what'd _you_ do about it?"

"Destroyed them and everything they've ever loved," Eggman replied, straight-faced.

Sonic's mouth gaped, but in firm skepticism.

"…Okay, they ditched me."

" _Ditched_ you? What, like this?" Sonic gestured to the cage.

Eggman shook his head. "They wanted me so they could get close to my father; he was a very popular man," he stated, almost robotically.

Sonic's frown deepened, though he was determined not to let on that he might actually feel a little bad for Eggman.

"When they realized I wasn't going to give them what they wanted, they left," Eggman went on, looking as though he'd long gotten over it; Sonic wasn't sure if he believed that. "Of course, I was always too good for them anyway…"

Sonic chuckled. "Heh! I…" his stomach dropped, "know the feeling…"

An awkward silence filled the air immediately after that, the two avoiding each other's gazes. Neither meant what they said, and they knew that.

Sonic shrugged. "Probably for the best on your part; if they only wanted you for reasons like that, they're not real friends at all."

"Says the hedgehog with the friends who just trapped him in a cage with an evil - and devilishly handsome, I might add - scientist who could turn him into _barbecue_ if he wanted."

Sonic opened his mouth, but failed at a witty retort. He sighed, scratching his head. "Is a little extra credit once in a while too much to ask? I couldn't even beat you on my own; I had to pick myself back up _somehow._ " He felt nauseous just talking about himself like that.

"Oh, and the other times didn't count?" Eggman asked, sounding offended. "You've beaten me _on your own_ on _multiple_ occasions. Your much less meddlesome friends were awake _and_ got fooled today! _You_ had to be _asleep._ "

Sonic was surprised. "And… you're admitting that?"

"Well, I'm not going to act like all your other wins meant _nothing!_ That's really rude, Sonic! It's like anything against me doesn't matter, as if I'm such a terrible villain!"

Sonic wasn't sure how to respond, or if Eggman was actually offended, comforting him, or both.

Eggman was suddenly looking at the blue aura around the cage, arms crossed, almost impatient for it to fade. This conversation had probably gone too deep at this point.

Sonic paused. "…You're not though."

"What are you on about now, hedgehog?" Eggman asked, not giving him eye contact as he continued to stare elsewhere.

"A terrible villain; you're not." Sonic leaned back and put on a small smirk. "Gotta admit, Egghead, you can give me a real challenge once in a while! You think I'd be as good at hero-ing as I am now if you weren't always kicking me into shape?"

"Oh _now_ who's being the complimenter?" Eggman asked, amused. "And unlike myself, _you_ don't have an excuse."

"Hey, I'm just…" Sonic's voice trailed off as he noticed the blue aura around the cage fading. He touched one of the bamboo stalks, confirming that it was movable.

" _FINALLY!"_ Sonic and Eggman exclaimed in unison, knocking the stalks down and stretching their limbs.

Eggman grinned down at Sonic. "So, what was that you were saying~?"

"Oh, can it, Eggman! We'll see if you're so smug next time I smash your robots to pieces!" Sonic said, crossing his arms. Still, he wore a smile.

"We'll see about that!" Eggman tapped a few buttons on his wrist device, summoning his Egg Mobile to him. He got on, ensuring that he was standing comfortably inside, then pointed the device at Sonic, firing a single laser. Sonic did a small hop to the side, easily avoiding it.

The two chuckled at each other, and Sonic watched as Eggman flew off.

However, the sudden silence made him feel confused. Did all of that really just happen?

He slumped his shoulders, thinking back to the events of the day, but not for long. He shook his head to help clear his mind, then started walking in the opposite direction that Eggman had gone.

He had some things to think about.


End file.
